Tuscaloosa to use eminent domain to seize Alberta land

Thursday

Jan 10, 2013 at 12:01 AM

TUSCALOOSA | After negotiations led to a rejected offer of more than $1 million, the City Council has elected to use its powers of eminent domain to seize 17 privately owned parcels in Alberta. The city says the land seizure is needed for public use: the reconstruction of Fire Station No. 4, which was destroyed by the April 27, 2011 tornado, and the improvement of city streets. The 17 total tracts — 16 entire lots and a sliver of one more — are all owned by Tuscaloosa real estate businessman Lang Ray through either Ray Inc. or Del-Ray, LLC.

By Jason MortonStaff Writer

TUSCALOOSA | After negotiations led to a rejected offer of more than $1 million, the City Council has elected to use its powers of eminent domain to seize 17 privately owned parcels in Alberta.The city says the land seizure is needed for public use: the reconstruction of Fire Station No. 4, which was destroyed by the April 27, 2011 tornado, and the improvement of city streets.The 17 total tracts — 16 entire lots and a sliver of one more — are all owned by Tuscaloosa real estate businessman Lang Ray through either Ray Inc. or Del-Ray, LLC.Ray declined to comment Wednesday on why he rejected the city's final offer of $1.098 million for the nearly 2.6 acres of land, saying only that he felt justified in holding out.“I'm like everyone else,” said Ray, who has operated Lang-Ray Realty on 15th Street since 1968, “I've got reasons to and for and whatever.”City Attorney Tim Nunnally said the City Council was advised to proceed with the eminent domain procedures after negotiations with Ray ended.“The property owner declined to sell the property for the amount the city offered,” Nunnally said, noting the offered price was about 10 percent above the fair market appraisal of $998,000.With Tuesday's vote, the eminent domain process goes to a special panel to be appointed by the Tuscaloosa County Probate Court. The panel will determine an appropriate value of the land and assess the amount that City Hall must give Ray in exchange for the land.Property owners can appeal the amount assessed by the probate court panel, but oftentimes, the initiation of the eminent domain process will draw the negotiations to an end before the court's decision is reached.City officials said the idea of exercising the council's eminent domain powers was discussed during an executive session on Tuesday. Council members were informed by city attorneys during that closed-door meeting that the matter would be on that night's agenda.The tracts border each side of 26th Avenue East, and those on the eastern side of the street back up to former site of Alberta Elementary School, which was destroyed when the EF4 tornado carved a 5.9-mile swath of destruction across the city.According to the Tuscaloosa Forward Generational Master Plan, these tracts are included in the planned construction of a new Fire Station No. 4 as well as the realignment of 25th and 26th avenues east and the development of a planned Alberta Parkway — a wide, landscaped street connecting Jaycee Park and the Alberta Elementary School site just north of University Boulevard East.Efforts to obtain enough land for these projects have been under way for more than a year, with the most recent acquisitions coming last month, when the City Council voted to spend $335,000 on property in Alberta for components of the Tuscaloosa Forward Generational Master Plan.Like Tuesday's vote on the eminent domain procedures, neither of the purchases were on the original council agenda. Instead, they were voted upon during a suspension of rules, with city leaders unanimously agreeing to proceed with the actions.For the December vote, the council agreed to spend $320,000 to purchase the lot at the corner of 25th Avenue East and University Boulevard East, where the Texaco station now sits, and $35,000 to purchase land on Juanita Drive that will aid the rebuilding of Alberta Elementary School.Prior purchases include that of the nearby Graceland Apartments. This tract also was obtained through an eminent domain process that started in December 2011. Six months later, the probate court panel ruled that the city must pay $536,000 for the land west of Alberta Elementary School.